Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness

July 8, 2007

Each time I've contemplated this new project, I've wondered just how interesting this would be for any potential reader. Sure, I like all this Nature stuff - but I didn't envision this all being just bunnies, deer, snakes and bird chicks. The thing I do find is that this particular lifestyle does lend itself to observations that some might more quickly pass by.

This afternoon I'd asked a family member to help me pick out a pot for some cactus cuttings I'd taken from a dying plant. The cuttings were dry and had scabbed over, with a good amount of growth tip, and it was time to put them in soil and see if they'd root. As we were looking over a wide selection of pots and gardening junk we had scattered around, we noticed a 5 gallon bucket where the lid had deteriorated from sun exposure and had fallen apart. The bucket was 1/2 full of soil mix and it also had a few other visitors...

Lizards (the types we have out here, anyway) tend to be curious and will explore all kinds of nooks and crannies seeking food and shelter and God-knows-what-else. In doing so they sometimes put themselves in spots they can't readily escape from. That was the case with this 5 gallon bucket - there were 3-4 dessicated lizard corpses in there and a few lizards that were still alive. (looking at each other hungrily - no doubt!) I tipped the bucket on its side to allow the live ones to escape - and the person with me asked if I thought any of the remaining corpses were alive. I said that I seriously doubted it and then we both noticed one that appeared to be moving ever so slightly. It was a scrawny thing - emaciated - with its eyes shrunken into its head. I really doubted it to be alive or capable of surviving at that point, but I could see a little movement behind the front legs in the torso - where you'd expect to see movement from breathing.

So we take this bugger over near the hose and get a bit of water on and near it - starting the process of rehydration. We both continued to see small movements from the lizard and I can recall at one point the person with me noted that it's front leg had seemed to hold onto the small twig I'd been using to gently arrange it. Most of the movement was at the neck and upper torso - with the head moving as a result of the neck moving. I put it in the bottom of a saucer for a potted plant and then put a bit of water in the saucer - keeping it tipped a bit to avoid drowning this lizard we were "saving".

My companion went inside to take a phone call and I sat and continued to watch this critter, curious of the outcome. At a point I started seeing things that weren't quite right. One was some movement from around where the ear would be on this lizard - the tip of something poking out a bit (1/16" or so). Not only was something poking out - it moved - and then it dissapeared back into this lizard's ear! Meanwhile, at the other end of this lizard - there was some movement coming from under the tail - from about where the poop chute would be. Within a minute or two it was evident to me that it was definitely larvae at the rearward end and I was suspecting the same up near the ears. By the time my companion had returned I told her that I had some news that I'd doubted she'd appreciate. I knew that two things were possibly happening at this point - either the poor bugger had been blowflied and was still ever so slightly alive - or that the creature was purely a corpse inhabited by what were likely maggots and that the maggots alone had caused the movements that we'd taken as signs of life. Well, by the time a maggot about an 1/8 of an inch in diameter had worked its way out of an ear and then back into the same opening - we were pretty sure of the latter. Meanwhile - at t'other end there were now 5-6 larvae squiggling around and the hind end was elevated about a 1/4" from where it'd been 5 minutes before.

It appears that we'd rehydrated a corpse and awakened its payload of maggots! What's so amazing is how the "movements" we'd seen were so easy to credit to the labored breathing of the lizard itself rather than the occupants.

My remark to my companion as we were watching the scene was - "I wonder how we could market this - maybe for Halloween!".

Afterwards I placed a stick in the bucket so that any other critters that might wind up inside could climb back out of the bucket. A few days later I happened to look in the bucket again and noticed a tarantula inside. We've had heavy monsoon rains lately and the soil in the bucket was fully saturated and the water level was above the soil level but for one small hump of soil where someone had dumped the soil from a small flowerpot. That was the high ground this tarantula had retreated to. I called out my companion to come and check the "bucket o' death". After - I tipped the bucket over to allow the tarantula to escape and then decided to just leave the bucket tipped on its side.

 

 

 

What's this "Plug Nickel Outfit"?

Well - a "plug nickel" indicates something that is of little to no value, often implying a counterfeit. The word "outfit" hails from earlier times in the western US when a ranch or its wranglers would be referred to as an outfit - as in 'The Hash Knife Outfit' by Zane Grey.

The Plug Nickel Outfit (which I've been carrying in my back pocket for a couple of decades now!) is currently headquartered (falling out and hanging 'round - more likely!) in Southeastern Arizona in the San Pedro River valley. I've already taken some license in describing these scrivenings as something between Walden and High Chaparral - High Chaparral was filmed and located to the west of here and at a lower elevation. In the series one could see Saguaro cacti in many of the outdoor shots which don't naturally occur around here as the winters are too cold. Technically we're located in a transition area between the Sonoran and the Chihuahuan deserts. The elevation here is about 4400' - and we're on the flanks of one of a handful of Sky Islands in this area. Topics covered here will primarily be the plant and animal life of this region, and side issues such as weather and history - but hopefully not limited entirely to these.

Feel free to visit the home page for current tales, the archives, or a listing of links to other websites that may be of interest. If you have questions, suggestions, or just want to rattle our chain - send the Outfit an email!

 

 
 
 
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